Developer’s attorney plays an Average Joe at Miami-Dade commission

Top land-use attorney Jeffrey Bercow tried to portray himself as an Average Joe on Wednesday during a five-hour marathon meeting at Miami-Dade County Hall, during which commissioners were debating whether a developer can build a massive, walled warehouse compound on the former Westview Country Club site.

Top land-use attorney Jeffrey Bercow tried to portray himself as an Average Joe on Wednesday during a five-hour marathon meeting at Miami-Dade County Hall, during which commissioners were debating whether a developer can build a massive, walled warehouse compound on the former Westview Country Club site.

The vacant land is in the center of a black community where hundreds of homeowners who oppose the plan have lived for decades. They showed up in droves, complaining they never would have bought their homes had they known they would be facing tall walls, noisy trucks and potentially dirty water runoff.

Bercow, who represents the developer, Rosal Westview, showed renderings of the planned 1.6-million-square-foot plant proposed for just north of Northwest 119th Street, said if he lived in Westview, “I would have no problem if this was located across from my house.”

The only thing across from Bercow’s house is Miami Beach’s Surprise Lake. County records show he bought the five-bedroom, five-bathroom, almost-6,000-square-foot home in 1998 for $700,000. Today it’s worth $1.45 million.